Category: NEWS

What Can You Find in the World’s Oldest Yiddish Letter? Exactly What You Would Expect Looking for proof that nothing ever changes? In this ancient letter a mother complains to her son that he doesn't write to her often enough… Sound familiar? The letter in the photograph is stored in the Cambridge University Library, TSMISC36. Line 5: I was, lo aleinu {may it not happen to us}, very sick, lo aleinu, from the first day of the month of Tamuz until the first day of the month of Av… Among the treasures discovered in the Cairo Genizah are also documents written in Yiddish. In fact the Cairo Genizah is the source of the oldest Yiddish texts in the world – an anthology of midrashim and parables, and even a German folk legend about a valiant duke who performs acts of gallantry to win the heart of a Greek princess. But daily life interests us more than legends of knights and princesses, so we decided to present...

  Watch a message from IBA Director Michael McCann here.   A letter will be sent to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and copied to your constituency MP on Monday 1 November. You can read the letter here.     Lara Gordon Campaign Director 114 Reaver House 12 East Street Epsom KT17 1HX www.israelbritain.org.uk +44(0)7491 299556 ...

INTERESTING STORIES YOU PROBABLY DIDN'T KNOW FROM THE HOLOCAUST Part Two 6. Janusz Korczak accompanied 192 orphans to a concentration camp without caring about his life so that he could cheer and entertain the children. He boarded the trains with the orphans from Dom Sierot and was never heard of again after that. Group portrait of children from the Korczak orphanage. Image credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Shlomo Nadel via aboutholocaust Korczak was a Polish Jew and worked professionally as a writer, pediatrician, and advocate for children’s rights. He was a fairly popular author and broadcaster who was forced into the Warsaw Ghetto where he spent time taking care of orphans. Korczak maintained his affection for children even in the direst circumstances when he marched to his death along with the 192 orphans in his care to the Treblinka Death Camp in August 1942. Warsaw was a place where considerable Jews were forced to live in ghettos. Korczak, too, was forced to relocate his...

Jewish Small Communities Network WANT TO BE IN BBC1 DOC? They are looking into how people from faith backgrounds draw on their faith and community in life events and need charismatic Jewish people! For more info see below and if you are interested email rachel@milkandhoneyproductions.co.uk   ...

September 1894, Marks and Spencer opened its first ever shop. They’d had market stalls in Leeds and Birkenhead before this, but No. 20 Cheetham Hill Road was their first actual shop. At first, Michael Marks lived above the small shop. The business flourished and they soon opened other shops. In the early days they were called "Marks and Spencer Penny Bazaars" with the slogan being "Don't Ask the Price – it's a Penny". In 1901, they built a warehouse on Derby Street near to the first shop. This warehouse was the first M&S building built to their own specifications. Sadly, the two founders of Marks and Spencer never got to see the their business become the retail giant it later did. Thomas Spencer died aged 53 in 1905 and Michael Marks died in Salford, aged 48, in 1907. ...

The JC: Victoria Prever, October 12, 2021 16:20 Kosher caterer Celia Clyne forced to shutter business after more than 25 years The caterer who has served communities and celebrities for more than a quarter of a century has called in liquidators Celia Clyne with husband Barry and son Mark via Celia Clyne banqueting Kosher caterer Celia Clyne has been forced to call in liquidators to dissolve her business after more than 25 years. The Manchester-based businesswoman who heads up the company with husband Barry and son Mark told the JC her business had been a “victim of the pandemic and of having very large premises”. Mrs. Clyne, who has previously served the likes of US Presidents, British Prime Ministers and the Late Princess Diana, said: “We had to liquidate after having not been able to work for 16 months. Even though we’ve been crazy busy this summer, we have a huge backlog of rent to pay and the furlough scheme has also ended.” One of the largest...

RIDLEY ROAD, THE 62 GROUP AND CST CST Blog   30 September 2021  This Sunday a new BBC drama series, Ridley Road, brings to life the story of the 62 Group: a Jewish street-fighting movement in the 1960s that was a forerunner of CST and remains a proud part of the Jewish community’s history of fighting antisemitism. The 62 Group infiltrated far right organisations, smashed up their meetings and fought fascists on the streets of the UK. Decades later, some of its members went on to form CST – including, most notably, CST’s current Chairman Gerald Ronson. Jewish self-defence today as led by CST is different in many ways, but the principle of a community that can defend itself against antisemites lies at the heart of all CST’s work. In the early 1960s the British far right was resurgent. Violent attacks on new immigrant communities were growing, Oswald Mosley was back on the scene and a new generation of neo-Nazis were behind dozens of arson...

The Bevis Marks Synagogue Heritage Foundation  The BMSHF has been hugely honoured to receive the support of HRH Prince Charles as the Royal Patron of our project. Prince Charles recently recorded a message of support for us that he has kindly agreed to share with you. We hope that you find his words as inspirational and meaningful as we have done – Prince Charles’ commitment and keen interest in the BMSHF is an important example of why our cultural and educational offering is of national importance and will shape the contours of understanding of the Jewish contribution to the UK and experience in this country for years to come: https://youtu.be/8EQA202r64k...

INTERESTING STORIES YOU PROBABLY DIDN'T KNOW FROM THE HOLOCAUST PART 1 The German Holocaust could be regarded as a significant or perhaps the most significant landmark of recent history. It was indeed a long extended event in its entirety. Brutal it might be in its core, yet the vast period saw some considerable stories that are very interesting to know. Now it’s pretty obvious that many of these instances might have been overlooked. The following list is an attempt to revive such lost tales and consists of 10 lesser-known yet interesting stories from the Holocaust. 1. Eugene Lazowski and Stanisław Matulewicz, a pair of Polish doctors, saved the lives of 8,000 natives of the Polish city, Rozwadow by creating a fake Typhus epidemic during the Holocaust. The Nazis quarantined the city instead of sending people to concentration camps since they feared the epidemic to break out. A glimpse into Rozwadów, Poland today. Image credit: Krzysztof Dobrzański/Wikimedia Commons via atlasobscura The very first fake typhus patient was a...

Many of the pictures hanging on the wall of the Daniel Rose Hall have been kindly donated by members Click on the picture to enlarge. These 4 beaded plaques were created by his daughter and donated by Raymond Gordon               This tapestry was donated by Anne and Ian Glass                     This oil painting was donated by Sandra Samuels             This beautiful painting by Beverley-Jane Stewart is hanging in the Daniel Rose Hall in the shul, presented to, and kindly donated, by Marilyn Katanka, wife of the late Rabbi Katanka.     The copperplate of the young sleeping student was donated by Glenys and Spencer Berd...